What Is Silicone Ink?
A Silicone ink is a synthetic paint made primarily of silicone.
It is manufactured by mixing silicone resin with acrylic resin, polyester resin, color pigments, and diluents, and then denatured. Because it has siloxane bonds that are resistant to oxidation and have strong bonding strength, it exhibits excellent properties such as heat resistance, weather resistance, water resistance, and chemical resistance.
Since it dries at room temperature, it is also excellent in handling. In recent years, it has been positioned as a typical paint used for exterior wall coating because of its good cost performance from a long-term perspective.
Uses of Silicone Ink
Due to their excellent performance, silicone inks are used in a wide range of applications, from residential to industrial. The following is a description of typical applications:
1. Residential Paint
Silicone ink has long been used to paint the exterior walls and roofs of homes. They have a long history and are the most familiar to painters. It is chosen over other paints not only because of its superior basic performance, such as heat resistance, water resistance, stain resistance, and high gloss, but also because of its high weather resistance.
Although more expensive than acrylic or urethane paints, they have a service life of 10 years or more, with the longest lasting 15 years. In contrast, acrylic paints have a service life of about 7-8 years. Therefore, from a long-term perspective, including the cost of materials and construction, silicone ink is more cost-effective.
2. Industrial Paints
There are grades of silicone ink that specialize in specific performance characteristics, such as heat resistance and insulation. Highly heat-resistant silicone ink is used for coating automobile engines, exhaust pipes, and heat-absorbing pipes. Heat-resistant paints are also utilized for furnaces, reaction kilns, and chimneys in chemical plants.
Highly insulating silicone ink is used for coating transformers, copper wires, and motors.
Characteristics of Silicone Ink
While silicone ink has many advantages, it also has disadvantages. Each of them is explained below.
Advantages
As mentioned above, silicone ink has excellent basic performance, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is the representative of all residential exterior wall paints. Since the exterior walls and roofs of houses are exposed to sunlight and high temperatures in the summer, the paints must have excellent weather and heat resistance.
Silicone ink can maintain a high percentage of its gloss even when exposed to ultraviolet rays, wind, and rain. Moisture permeability is also important, especially in a hot and humid climate. Silicone ink allows a certain degree of moisture to permeate through, thereby inhibiting mold growth and internal condensation.
In addition, dust and other contaminants can accumulate on roofs and walls, but silicone ink is stain resistant and can repel them.
Disadvantages
Silicone ink also has several disadvantages. The first one is its high price. Since other acrylic or urethane paints are less expensive, those who wish to reduce the initial cost may choose them.
However, from a long-term perspective, silicone ink is often chosen because it requires more frequent maintenance, and the construction costs are higher each time. The next point is that it requires a certain level of experience in handling.
Silicone ink must be handled with frequent stirring, which is considered difficult for the average person to handle. In addition, while they are highly stain-resistant, they also have a characteristic of low adhesion. Therefore, it is important to apply a primer beforehand when applying to walls and other surfaces.
Types of Silicone Ink
Silicone ink can be divided into two types, water-based and oil-based, depending on the diluent used. Furthermore, oil-based paints can be subdivided into the following three types, since there are also two-component paints in which the two types of paints are mixed just before use.
1. Water-Based One-Component Paints
Oil-based paints have extremely high adhesion to the surface to which they are applied, and can be applied directly to metals such as aluminum and stainless steel. It is also more durable than water-based paints and can remain clean for a long period of time. On the other hand, it has a strong thinner odor, so care must be taken during application.
2. Oil-Based One-Component Paint
Oil-based paints have extremely high adhesion to the applied surface and can be applied directly to metals such as aluminum and stainless steel. It is also more durable than water-based paints.
It can remain clean for a long period of time. However, care must be taken during application due to the strong thinner odor.
3. Two-Component Oil-Based Paint
The basic characteristics are the same as those of oil-based paints, but it has the advantage of being more durable and less prone to deterioration compared to one-component paints. It is easier to use than the one-component type because it can be used with a wider range of materials than the one-component type. However, it requires time and effort to control the amount used because it must be used immediately after mixing.
Silicone ink is most commonly used for painting exterior walls due to its high cost performance. It has excellent heat, water, and weather resistance and a service life of 10 to 15 years. Inexpensive acrylic and urethane resin paints have a service life of less than 8 years, indicating the high performance of silicone ink.
Although alkali resin paints are less expensive per unit, silicone resin paints are generally chosen for residential exterior painting because of their higher running cost. In addition, it should be noted that price and performance vary depending on the silicon content.